


A Very Philly Christmas

by captainamergirl



Category: The Young and the Restless
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Holidays, Philly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28039503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: Phyllis and Billy broke up after everyone discovered their affair. It took years to find their way back to each other's arms but now they are reunited with a baby on the way. {A short holiday tale}
Relationships: Billy Abbott/Phyllis Summers
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	1. Holiday cards

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hopeonfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeonfire/gifts).



> This is a mostly fluffy future AU fic written in drabbles and short chapters. Phyllis and Billy broke up after their affair was discovered. Guilt and circumstances kept them apart for several years, but now they're back together and happy. Oh and Billy definitely never slept with Summer lol

**1 - Holiday cards**  
  
Billy awakened in the middle of the night, instinctively feeling the loss of familiar, warm little feet pressed up against his bare ankles. Phyllis was gone and the bed had grown cold.  
  
“Phyllis?” He called out. _“Phyllis?”_  
  
He pushed back the covers and padded on bare feet down the hall. He found Phyllis sitting at the breakfast nook, sipping a cup of tea and scribbling furiously on a small white card.  
  
“You look busy,” Billy commented as he moved to sit beside her. He immediately reached out and smoothed aside an errant lock of her soft, dark blonde hair. He had to touch her, he always had to. Just to feel her, just to know that she was real. Their reunion had happened only very recently; over half a decade in the making. He’d never get over his wonder … His happiness that she was his, for real this time.  
  
Phyllis smiled softly and leaned into his touch. “It’s not important,” she said.  
  
“Looks important to me,” Billy said. “You’re biting your lip. You do that when you’re deep in concentration. And whatever you’re writing, it got you up in the middle of the night.”  
  
“The baby was kicking up such a storm that I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d start on the Christmas cards…”  
  
Billy smiled. “I didn’t know you wrote Christmas cards.” Phyllis was a wonderful surprise. Every day, he learned something new about her, and everything he learned, made him love her still more.  
  
“Not usually …” Phyllis nibbled her bottom lip again and Billy couldn’t resist sneaking a peek at the name on the card. Whatever she was writing, had her looking mighty anxious. She spotted him staring and tried to cover the words but it was too late.  
  
“Jack? You’re writing my brother?”  
  
“I just thought … Well, I don’t know what I thought. But it's Christmas and he’s all alone in Montreal and -”  
  
“I think it’s a good idea,” Billy said. “I want him to know that despite our many differences, that we care about him.”  
  
Phyllis nodded. “I bet he’ll write back 'return to sender' …”  
  
“He won’t.”  
  
“How do you know that?”  
  
“Because he still loves us. I know he does. And even if he can’t be here in Genoa City right now, he knows we love him too.” Billy reached out to cup her ever-growing stomach. It humbled him. The idea that the woman he loved beyond rhyme and reason was having his child. They hadn’t planned this … But it was amazing; to know that they had created something beautiful and innocent out of all of the ugliness that others had thrown their way.  
  
“Do you think he’ll ever forgive us?” Phyllis asked, setting down the pen and covering his hands with hers.  
  
“I think so… Someday… And I want him to be involved in our baby’s life. I want him or her to know their Uncle Jack. And I think a part of him wants that too.”  
  
Phyllis nodded. “I hope so. Because I want you two to really be brothers again."  
  
“I have to believe we will be,” Billy said. “That said, as much as I love my brother, I am not going to deny my happiness any longer. You can’t either. We’ve spent years apologizing for falling in love, years pushing each other away to appease everyone else, and I can’t do that anymore. I don’t want to. I want to be happy and that’s what you make me. I want you to be happy too, Phyllis; happy that we found each other again.”  
  
Phyllis reached up to palm his cheek, running her lithe fingers gingerly over his light, late-night stubble. “I am happy, Billy. I’m … beyond happy. I just want Jack to have that kind of happiness in his life too.”  
  
“He will... Someday he’ll find love again and it will be with someone that he truly belongs with … But you, you belong right here with me.”  
  
Phyllis nodded. “I do,” she whispered. Her beautiful eyes lit up in a smile. “The baby’s doing it again… Do you feel that, Billy?"  
  
“I do,” Billy said with a huge grin on his face as swift flutters bounced against his palm. “It’s amazing. I can’t wait to meet our child.”  
  
“Me either,” Phyllis said. “Promise me something, Billy.”  
  
“Anything.”  
  
“Promise me that they’ll know … when the time is right … Everything about how we came to be. I want to shelter them but I also want them to know … That I’m in love with their father. That I feel like -”  
  
“This was fate,” Billy said. He nodded. “They’ll know. We won’t lie to them.” He leaned over and pressed his lips to hers. It was a soft kiss that was almost chaste in its gentleness. “And for the record, I love you too, Mrs. Billy Abbott.” He pulled her onto his lap and she squirmed, laughing.  
  
“I’ll crush you. I’m so fat.”  
  
“Hey stop. You’re beautiful and you know it.”  
  
Phyllis turned to face him, cupping his face in her hands. “Thank you.”  
  
“For?”  
  
“For not giving up on me; on us. It took a long time for me to come around, and you had to be more patient than you should have had to be, but I am glad you waited for me.”  
  
“What can I say? You’re worth it.”  
  
Phyllis’s eyes misted noticeably and she moved to drop her face into the curve of his shoulder, just holding him tight. They reveled in the mutual knowledge that they had finally found their way home. To each other. Just where they belonged.


	2. Decorating

**2 - Decorating**  
  
“Hey, hey, what are you doing with that?” Billy asked, spotting Phyllis carrying a small brown box into the living room. It bumped lightly against her rounded belly as she moved. He immediately dropped the string of tangled lights he had been doing battle with and hurried over to her, taking the box from her arms. “You shouldn’t be handling that.”  
  
“Billy, it’s not a bomb.”  
  
“No, but it is heavy and -”  
  
“Heavy? Come on. It has maybe, ten small ornaments in it.”  
  
“Still…”  
  
“You don’t have to worry so much, Billy. I would never do anything to endanger our baby.”  
  
He set the box down on the coffee table and reached out to slide his calloused fingers across her soft cheek. “Of course you wouldn’t. I would never think that. You just need to take it easy. You’re almost eight months pregnant after all.”  
  
“Oh, I seem to remember that.”  
  
Billy smiled as he touched the slope of her stomach. “Not too long to go now until we meet our son or daughter.”  
  
Phyllis nodded and cupped her full belly with her tiny hands. “I know. I can’t wait to meet them. I just hope I do right by them.”  
  
“Are you kidding me? Phyllis, you’re an amazing mother to Summer and Daniel and you’ll be an amazing mother to this little guy or girl too.”  
  
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes -”  
  
“Who hasn’t?” Billy thumbed the curve of her chin. “The point is that there is no one in the world who can love this baby and protect him or her or fight for them as you can. I know what’s it like to be loved by you, Phyllis, and it’s the best feeling … in the whole damned world.”  
  
Phyllis smiled and dabbed at her eyes which felt decidedly moist. She could blame her sudden emotional state on hormones but the truth was that her husband knew exactly how to touch her soul, how to render her completely breathless.  
  
She got up on her tippy toes and kissed him on the lips. He captured her cheeks in his hands as their mouths moved against each other's. When they pulled apart, he smiled. “So where were we anyway?” He asked with a smirk.  
  
“I believe we were decorating for Christmas,” Phyllis reminded him with a smirk of her own. “Daniel and Amber are bringing the kids for the holiday, and Katie and Johnny are coming too, and I don’t want any of them to be disappointed if this place doesn’t look really festive.”  
  
“Ah okay, I remember now.” He kissed her forehead. “Now you take a seat and -”  
  
“Billy, I can help. I’m not an invalid. I thought we had covered that already.”  
  
“Of course you’re not an invalid. I just don’t want to tire you out.”  
  
“I’m not tired.” Phyllis pointedly reached for the box of ornaments he had set on the coffee table and opened it, plucking out a small silver bell that tinkled when she shook it. She lightly pushed past him and hung it on a thick, mid-level tree branch. “I did it, Billy. And all without breaking a sweat too. Can you believe it?”  
  
Billy laughed. “Okay, okay. I give in. You can help.”  
  
“As if you could stop me.”  
  
“True. We both know how stubborn you can be.”  
  
“I prefer the word determined.”  
  
He laughed. “Oh, you’re that too.” He went to untangling the lights as Phyllis hung ornaments. They bantered and decorated their way through Christmas carol after Christmas carol playing on the expensive stereo system.  
  
Within two hours, the whole of the living room had been transformed - decorated to the hilt in flashing lights and smelling of fresh pine needles.  
  
The Abbotts then settled down onto the sofa to observe their handiwork. “Think the kids will be pleased?” Billy asked, sliding an arm around her shoulders.  
  
“They’re going to love it,” Phyllis said. “It's like a winter wonderland in here.”  
  
”It doesn’t all seem a little ‘Griswald’ to you?”  
  
Phyllis shook her head. “No, it actually looks great.” She snuggled closer to Billy’s lanky side and he held her tightly to him. As they watched the lights twinkle, words faded away; warmth enveloped them; filled them up... _Peace reigned._


	3. Holiday movies

**3 - Holiday movies**  
  
“So what are we doing tonight?” Billy asked as he walked into the living room to find Phyllis, Katie, and Johnny sitting on the sofa, chatting it up. It made him smile - seeing how well his children got along with their stepmother. He hadn’t expected it to be this easy, but then again, Phyllis had that curious way about her ...That way of breaking down people’s strongest defenses. He knew that only too well.  
  
“We’re going to watch a Christmas movie,” Katie said with a toothy grin. “Frosty the Snowman!”  
  
“No,” Johnny said with a groan. “Anything but that.”  
  
“But John,” Katie said. “It’s my favorite.”  
  
“Well, it’s a baby movie,” Johnny returned. “For babies, like you.”  
  
Katie’s eyes welled with tears and her lips turned down in a frown and Billy didn’t know whether she would cry or yell at her big brother, or both. He started to rush over to them but Phyllis held up a hand in an _“I’ve got this”_ sort of manner.  
  
“Katie, Johnny, no fighting, okay?” Phyllis said. “Siblings should get along. It kind of sucks when they don’t.”  
  
“I agree,” Billy murmured, thinking briefly of himself and Jack. One day he was sure things would become right between them again, but he wasn’t sure when that would be exactly. Still, he couldn’t let it get him down. He wouldn’t stop living his life or loving Phyllis, not for anyone. Not even his brother.  
  
“Let’s make a deal,” Phyllis said. “We’ll pop some popcorn and watch Frosty -”  
  
“Awww….” Johnny moaned.  
  
“And then, Johnny, it’s your choice. Any movie you want to watch.”  
  
“Star Wars?”  
  
Phyllis smirked at Billy before turning back to her stepson. “I was thinking something a little more holiday-ish. Have you ever seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation?”  
  
“No… Is there a gunfight in it?” Johnny asked hopefully. His pre-teen boy side was showing.  
  
“No, but I think Chevy Chase gets electrocuted stringing Christmas lights,” Phyllis said with a smile. “Kind of like your father almost did when he put the lights up outside.”  
  
Billy’s lips twitched. “That absolutely never happened.”  
  
“It absolutely did. We almost had to rush you to the hospital, remember?” Phyllis returned with a grin of her own.  
  
Johnny asked, “Is it an old movie?”  
  
“Not as old as Star Wars,” Billy said. “So are we settled? Frosty, then Christmas Vacation?”  
  
“I guess so,” Johnny said.  
  
“Yay!” Katie crowed. “I just love the part where Frosty meets Santa Claus!”  
  
Johnny rolled his eyes at his sister. Billy offered to pop the popcorn, knowing Phyllis would find a way to burn it somehow. He returned soon enough and scooted onto the sofa, taking up the residence between Johnny and Phyllis. Frosty was already playing, dancing his way through the cartoon streets with a train of kids behind him, as Billy passed the bowl of kernels around.  
  
Phyllis took several giant handfuls of popcorn and he smiled at her knowingly. "Hey, I’m eating for two.”  
  
Billy laughed. “No judgments here. My son or daughter will always get what they want.”  
  
“They’ll be horribly spoiled.”  
  
“Shh, you’re ruining the movie,” Katie said as she munched on her tasty snack.  
  
Billy and Phyllis chuckled. Billy slipped his arm around Phyllis’s slender shoulders and held her gently to his chest. He whispered in her ear, “It’s going to be a long night … But thank you.”  
  
“For?” She whispered back.  
  
“For loving my kids,” Billy said, his lips grazing her ear, making her shiver. “It means a helluva lot to me.”  
  
“They’re a part of you,” Phyllis said. “So of course, I love them. Plus, they’re awfully cute.”  
  
“Even Johnny with his ‘I’m too cool for everything and everyone’ shtick?” Billy teased.  
  
“I heard that, Dad!” Johnny said.  
  
Billy smiled and rubbed his son’s back. “Well, you are too cool… The coolest almost-teenager on the block.”  
  
“You’re so cheesy, Dad.”  
  
“Hey, don’t blame your father. He can’t help it if he’s getting soft in his old age,” Phyllis said with a laugh.  
  
“Soft? _Soft?”_ Billy said in mock-indignation. “Never.”  
  
“Yes, soft. Face it, Billy, we’re just an old married couple now and it all goes downhill from here.”  
  
“I hope you’re kidding.”  
  
“I am,” Phyllis said. “I think we have some life left in us yet.”  
  
“Shh!” Katie said again. “We’re almost to my favorite part.”  
  
Phyllis and Billy mocked zipping their lips and then stared at each other, eyes dancing, each struggling not to laugh out loud.


	4. Holiday baking

**4 - Holiday baking**  
  
 _“Arrrggghhh!”_ He heard the loud howl of indignation coming from inside the house as he was walking up the front steps. He immediately dropped everything in his arms and threw back the door, screaming her name.  
  
 _“Phyllis!_ Phyllis, answer me, are you alright?” His heart was thudding painfully in his chest as he dashed through the house, following the stream of black smoke curling its way out from the kitchen door.  
  
 _“Phyllis?”_ He charged into the kitchen and saw her wielding the large fire extinguisher, spraying coal-like lumps on blackened cookie sheets. He ran to her and took the extinguisher from her hands, putting out the rest of the fire by himself as she went to throw open the window. Cool air rushed in and he sighed with relief.  
  
Billy set down the extinguisher and moved to Phyllis, pulling her as tightly to him as he could, cupping her face in his large hands. There was a little smudge of soot on Phyllis’s cheek and he dabbed at it. “Are you okay?”  
  
“Yes, I’m fine. I didn’t mean to worry you.”  
  
“When I heard you scream… when I saw the smoke…”  
  
“Billy, it’s alright. Really.”  
  
“Sorry. I know I’m overreacting but if anything happened to you or the baby … I would be … I wouldn’t be able to function. You’re my world.”  
  
“And you’re mine,” Phyllis said. “But you’re not going to lose me ever again. I’m in it for the long haul, remember.”  
  
“Promise me that.”  
  
“I promise... Again, I really am sorry that I scared you.”  
  
“It’s okay. My heart rate has _almost_ returned to normal.”  
  
“You’re usually not such an alarmist… But I _think_ I get it.”  
  
“I don't want to lose you ... Living without you for so long… Well, I just want every moment with you that I can get. Every second is incredibly precious to me.”  
  
“Me too,” She snuggled into his embrace.  
  
“What were you trying to do anyway?”  
  
“Bake.” Billy’s lips twitched. “Don’t you dare laugh, Billy Abbott! Avery gave me a chocolate chip recipe that she swore was impossible to ruin - ‘fail-proof’, she said. _Hrmph.”_  
  
Billy couldn’t help but laugh and Phyllis tried to remain stern and stoic but she started laughing too. “God, I don’t know what I was thinking,” she admitted. “I just wanted to do something homey and maternal for once, I guess. Daniel and Amber are bringing Lucy and Rosie over tonight for dinner, you know, and I thought they could have at least one homemade item on the menu. I hate they always have to eat out of a take-out bag.”  
  
“Then let me do the cooking.”  
  
“Are you up for the task? You probably had a long day at work…”  
  
“It’s fine. I think I can manage a small family dinner.”  
  
“I never doubted you for a second.”  
  
Billy kissed her gently “That’s what amazes me … The whole world sees me as a failure, a screw-up, the black sheep… And you just see _me.”_  
  
“The rest of the world can think whatever they want, Billy, but I know the truth… You’re a good man and you’re an amazing husband and father. This baby is so lucky to have you. So am I, for that matter.”  
  
He cupped her belly gently. “I am pretty damn lucky too,” he said. “In fact, I would say that I may be the luckiest man in the world.”


	5. Bundled up

**5 - Bundled up**  
  
“The snow’s really coming down tonight,” Billy said as he stood at the window, watching the thick flurries of white falling beyond the pane. “I pity anyone stuck driving in that.”  
  
“Well, about that … We may have no choice but to get out in it, unfortunately,” Phyllis said in a tight voice. Billy immediately whirled around to look at this wife. Her full lips were pinched in a bloodless line and her pretty face was contorted in pain.  
  
“Phyllis,” Billy said. He immediately moved over to her and knelt in front of her. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”  
  
Phyllis gritted her teeth. “Oh, nothing. Just some …. Urgh… sensations I’m having.”  
  
“You’re in labor?”  
  
“No. No. I can’t be. It’s a few weeks too soon. I just … Ugh!” She clutched her full belly. “I just … Well, maybe I should get checked out just in case.”  
  
“Hell yes you should,” Billy agreed.  
  
“It could be Braxton Hicks. I had those with Daniel and Summer but you know, I just don’t want to take a chance. Not with our baby boy or girl.”  
  
“Me either,” Billy agreed. She started to get up but he shook his head. “Sit for a minute while I grab our coats. Practice that breathing stuff they’ve been teaching us in birthing class. Breathe in, breathe out. That’s it,” he coached as she puffed out her lips. He gently cupped her kneecaps with his hands and watched her for a moment, looking for any signs of distress that meant they were really in trouble.  
  
His heart was hammering in his chest as he stood, kissed her forehead gently, whispered, “hang on,” and dashed for the coat closet. He pulled down his overcoat and her big white snow jacket.  
  
“Let’s get you all bundled up,” he said. He helped her slide her arms through the puffy sleeves and she half-smiled, half-gritted her teeth.  
  
“I look like the abominable snow-woman,” she said.  
  
“No, you don’t.” Billy palmed her cheek and zipped up her jacket as best as he could around her huge stomach. He donned his own overcoat and helped her towards the door. He opened it and a rush of cold air smacked them both hard in the face.  
  
“Why do we live in Wisconsin again?” Phyllis asked.  
  
“We’re obviously gluttons for punishment. Maybe we should move to Los Angeles like your sister and Dylan did; spend every day of the year at the beach…”  
  
“I like the sound of that because this weather is ridiculous.”  
  
Billy met her eyes. “Yes, it is.”  
  
He surprised Phyllis by scooping her up into his arms and carrying her down the front steps.  
  
“Billy, what are you doing? Do you want to break your back and end up in the hospital too?”  
  
“Oh come on. You’re practically light as a feather.”  
  
“Liar,” Phyllis said but she laughed a little as they moved through the snow to the car. Billy was praying that the engine wasn’t frozen over. He was just glad that he had listened to the weather forecast this morning because the meteorologist had said it was time to put chains on all of the tires, which was exactly what he had done.  
  
He juggled her as best as he could in his arms as he opened the passenger door and tucked her gently inside. She struggled with the seatbelt as she always did now and he leaned over her to lock it into place. It stretched taut across her belly. "You okay?”  
  
“Just a little uncomfortable,” Phyllis said. She grasped her belly. “Okay, a lot uncomfortable. Tell me he or she will be fine, Billy. Promise me.”  
  
“I promise. This baby is meant to be born, to live, to grow up, to thrive - with us two crazies as parents.”  
  
“Who ya callin’ crazy?” Phyllis said with a little smile that was almost playful. They both chuckled but he could tell that she was still in a lot of pain.  
  
He shut her door carefully and hurried around to his side. He climbed behind the steering wheel and buckled up, turning on the Lexus’s brights. “I’ll get us there, okay -- in one piece.”  
  
“I trust you,” Phyllis said. She reached out to squeeze his arm and then he started up the engine.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
“It’s definitely Braxton Hicks,” their OBGYN Dr. Campbell pronounced after doing a thorough examination. “They should stop on their own in time.”  
  
Phyllis looked at the blonde doctor. She was barely thirty-five, young, but smart. Still, Phyllis was almost afraid to trust her. “Are you sure?”  
  
“Completely sure,” Dr. Campbell said. “But we will keep you here for a few hours just to be sure that they dissipate.”  
  
Phyllis looked at Billy. “That would be appreciated,” he said. “Thanks, Doc.”  
  
“Of course. Call me or one of the nurses if you need anything. In the meantime, Mrs. Abbott, please do your best to relax. You don’t want to elevate your blood pressure. Then we really will have problems.” She offered them a kind smile and walked out of the room after saying, “I’ll be back soon to check on you.”  
  
Billy took Phyllis’s hands in his. “You still hurting?”  
  
“A little, yes, but the contractions have slowed down somewhat,” Phyllis answered. “I feel silly coming in here, making us go out in a snowstorm… I should have known…”  
  
“Hey, come on. You just wanted to be sure our baby was alright. That’s what a good - no, a _great_ \- mother does… Makes sure their child is okay, no matter what.” He feathered his lips in her hair. “Is there anyone you want me to call?”  
  
“No, it’s okay. Right now, I don’t want to worry anyone.”  
  
Billy shrugged. “You want to watch some late-night TV then? I heard Brad Pitt is on Fallon tonight and I know you think he’s strong and sexy.”  
  
Phyllis smiled softly. “Who needs Brad when I've got you...Billy, you are sexy and you are strong… You kept me strong tonight too…. You kept me calm and sane when I was sure the worst was going to happen. You are my rock and I can’t thank you enough for that… _constancy_ you bring into my life.”  
  
“No one ever considered me a constant before you.”  
  
“Well, their opinions don’t count,” Phyllis said. She scooted over in bed and patted the empty side of the mattress.  
  
Billy smiled and lifted the covers, climbing in beside her. He lightly looped his arm around her and spooned her to his body. Her chin was cradled in the crook of his shoulder and she sighed contentedly. Soon enough, she had fallen to sleep in his arms and he just held her for the longest time, thanking whomever was responsible for this sort of stuff for keeping his wife and baby safe tonight.


End file.
